Azerbaijan issues a memo on policemen's behaviour during elections

Within the series of activities aimed to educate the election subjects, the Central Election Commission (CEC) of Azerbaijan has published the "Memo on Policemen's Participation in Elections to National Assembly". The opposition doubts of its usefulness.

The Memo is an 8-page booklet.

The document, in particular, quotes the Law "On the Police": "Treatment by a policeman of a person in any form humiliating his or her dignity is inadmissible," "at restricting any rights and freedoms of an individual, a policeman shall explain the grounds and reasons of the restriction, as well as the rights and duties of the individual related thereto," "the duty of the police is to ensure public order during mass actions."

Then, the Memo describes the duties of a policeman during various stages of the election campaign. In particular, during the pre-election agitation policemen shall ensure safety of mass events of the campaign, protect public order and ensure security in the places of meetings with voters. Besides, they are responsible for preventing damage of campaign materials posted in specially defined locations, as well for stopping any illegal campaigning and liquidation of promotional materials disseminated in violation of the law.

The Memo states that "the police shall not illegally interfere in rallies and exert pressure on participants thereof."

The document also defines the tasks of the police to guard delivery of ballot papers, protocols and other documents from the CEC to regional election commissions and further to precinct election commissions. After the election, in the reverse order, the police shall ensure reliable protection of the travel of documents to the CEC.

On the voting day, as highlighted in the Memo, a policeman shall remain at least 100 meters away from the polling station, and get in only at the invitation of the head of the local commission in order to restore public order. In this case, voting is suspended.

The Memo to the police for the time of the election is published in Azerbaijan for the first time. The text of the booklet was prepared by the CEC in cooperation with the MIA.

However, activists of the Azerbaijani opposition are sceptical about the Memo. "All of this is just a show-off, aimed at certain international representatives unaware of the realities of Azerbaijan," said, in particular, Gasan Kerimov, head of the Supreme Majlis of Popular Front Party (PFPA) of Azerbaijan. "Foreign experts dealing with democracy and election issues in Azerbaijan know very well that the police are the main resource of the authorities in falsifying elections and suppressing protests against these illegal actions. Therefore, the authorities will fail to deceive and fool the international community."

A similar viewpoint about the Memo was expressed by Arif Gajily, head of the office of the "Musavat" Party. In his opinion, the CEC "by publishing all sorts of brochures and posters is just imitating the real educational work."

"Illegal interference of the police into elections stems not from ignorance of the law, but from commands "downloaded" from central and local governments," said Anar Mamedli, head of the Centre for Monitoring Elections and Teaching Democracy.

Rashid Gajily, head of Media Rights Institute, also believes that publication of brochures does not guarantee observance of the law by policemen during elections.

He believes that an important point in ensuring policemen's proper professional behaviour is their special training in the mission during the elections. In his opinion, "as a rule, such training sessions are held for police officers only."

Meanwhile, according to Magerram Zulfugarly, head of the electoral headquarters of the Association for Civil Society Promotion in Azerbaijan, the local police is successfully coping with the mission of maintaining public order and ensuring citizens' electoral rights.